WITHHELD IRA FINALLY RELEASED

Treasurer releases financial bonanza

LINGAYEN – It’s Christmas in July for 3,365 officials and employees of the provincial government.

The provincial board approved Friday a supplemental budget that included the workers’ additional compensation allowance (adcom) of P1,000 retroactive to January this year.

Supplemental Budget Ordinance No. 2 proposed by Board Member Angel Baniqued, set aside P82,136,804.69, the bulk of which was sourced from the Internal Revenue Allotment of the province that the provincial treasury to be paid to government employees beginning Monday, July 3 to cover the seven month-period starting January 2006.

Provincial Budget Officer Hilaria Claveria has certified that the withheld IRA in the amount of P77,501,195.69 was already received by the province.

Vice Governor Oscar Lambino, who presided over the session, earlier assured provincial workers already getting impatient over their delayed P1,000 monthly ‘adcom’, that the provincial government is not running away from its commitment.

The amount would have been P114 million had the local government units agreed to have their withheld IRA released for a period of seven years starting this year till 2013 and not compel the national government to release the amount in one lump some .

But the IRA had to be monetized by an accredited bank to comply with request of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) who preferred to have the whole amount released at one time, instead of a staggered basis for a period of seven years.

Thus, for “advancing” the money, the bank earned P28.9 million in interest from Pangasinan’s IRA alone.

The supplemental budget approved by the provincial board was boosted by the P1,635,609 from the reversion of appropriations for unoccupied positions; and P3 million savings realized from the construction of medical and surgical rooms of the Lingayen District Hospital.

Only P42 million has been pegged for the adcom of provincial officials and employees while the rest will go to the province’s development fund and non-office appropriations.

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments